Effective delivery of compounds of interest to cells, tissues, organs, and organisms has been a challenge in biomedicine, imaging and other fields where delivery of molecules of various sizes and dimensions to a predetermined target is desirable.
Whether for pathological examination, therapeutic treatment or for fundamental biology studies, several methods are known and used for delivering various classes of biomaterials and biomolecules which are typically associated with a biological and/or chemical activity of interest.
As the number of molecules suitable to be used as chemical or biological agents (e.g. drugs, biologics, therapeutic or imaging agents) increases, development of a delivery systems suitable to be used with compounds of various complexity, dimensions and chemical nature has proven to be particularly challenging.
Nanoparticles are structures useful as carriers for delivering agents with various methods of delivery. Several nanoparticle delivery systems exist, which utilize an array of different strategies to package, transport, and deliver an agent to specific targets.